Machine for forming wedge-shaped articles



March 9,1926. I 1,575,611

F. ASHWORTH MACHINE FOR FORMING WEDGE SHAPED ARTICLES I Original FiledMarch 21, 1919 Patented Mar. 9, 1926. I

UNITED STATES w, M 1,575,611 PATENT OFFICE.

FRED ASHWORTH, OF WENI-IAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORTO UNITED SHOE MA-GHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEWJERSEY.

MACHINE FOR FORMING WEDGE-SHAPED ARTICLES."

Original application filed March 21, 1919, Serial No. 284,058. Dividedand this application filed July 28,

- 1925. Serial No. 46,598.

- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED AsI-IWORTH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Wenham, in the county of. Essex and Commonwealth ofMassachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in 'Machines forForming VVedge-Shaped Articles, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likereference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in theseveral figures. 1

This invention relates to machines for treating sheet material havingopposite edges differing in thickness and is illustrated as embodied ina machine designed for forming wedge-shaped lifts for heels of boot-sand shoes.

In various manufacturing operations involving the handling of blanks orarticles characterized by having opposite edges of differentthicknesses, of which wedge lifts are typical, problems have arisenwhen, for example, it has'been desired to stack the lifts or'otherarticles in magazines. and to remove successive articles fromthe.magazines automatically for presentation to various operatinginstrumentalities. If articles such as wedge-shaped heel lifts arestacked in a magazine with their thin edges pointing all in onedirection, the corresponding surfaces of the stacked lifts are notparallel and consequently the lifts tend to clog the magazine, renderingsubsequent feeding of lifts from the magazine diflicult and uncertain.If such lifts be placed in a magazine'with their thick and thin edgesarranged alternately in opposite directions,

then complex mechanism must be provided 40 to effectthe feeding of theliftsfromthe magazine. q w I I have discovered that the diflicultiesabove mentioned may vbe avoided by forming wedge-shaped articles withprojections on I their thin edge portions, each projection being ofsuflicient height to' make the total thickness of an article at aprojection substantially equal to the maximum thickness of the article.When formed in this manner, the articles may be stacked with their thinedges extending in the same. direction because the said edges will be sospaced relatively to each other-that the-correspond ing surfaces of thearticles will be in sub stantially parallel relation. This method offorming and stacking articles, such a stack of articles, and the novelarticles themselves, are disclosed and claimed in my application Ser.No. 284,058, filed March 21, 1919, of which the present application is adivision.

In view of the foregoing, an object of thepresent invention is toprovide a machine by the use of which wedge-shaped heel lifts or otherarticles having similar characteristics may be provided with projectionsor corrugations such as those above referred to.

To this end, and in accordance with features of the invention, theillustratedmachine is provided with mechanism for feeding material suchas. leatherboard or other sheet material adapted to be cut into heellifts to mechanism organized to form projections along one margin ofthe. material. In the illustrated embodiment ofthe invention,za strip ofsheet material wedge-shaped in transverse cross-section is fed byrolls,

oneiof which is provided with dies or pro-- jections arranged to formprojections along the thin edge margin of the strip as it is fed tocuttmg mechan sm operating to -cut wedge-shaped lifts from the stripinsuch a manner that each lift is provided along its thin edge with oneor more such projections. It will be apparent that when projectionsare'formed ,in this mannely ifthe corresponding projectionsofsuccessively stacked lifts were alined, the projections would nest. Thatis, the inner surfaces of the stock forming the projections would fitthe outer surfaces of adjacent projections, thus preventing obtainingthe desired parallelism of the lifts. To prevent this result, inaccordance with another feature of the invention, the dies on the feedroll are so spaced. relatively. to the width of the lifts to be cut thatthe projections on successive lifts'will be staggered with relation toeach other.

While the machine shown. in the drawings constitutes apreferredorganization for so forming wedge-shaped lifts or other articles as toobtainthe desired result, it should be understood that in variousaspects the in-' vention is not limited; to embodiment in. theparticular type V of mechanism herein illustrated or to formingprojections of the particular kind or in the manner in which they areformed by the use of this machine.

Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing detailed description and will be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly in section, of a wedge lift formingmachine; and

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a portion of material beingoperated up on with the formed lifts left in position'in the sheetmaterial.

In the illustrative embodiment of the invention, feed rolls 4 and 6 feedstrip material 8 intermittently to a dieing-out mechanism consisting ofa heel lift die 10 and a co-operating cutting block or presser member 12mounted on a reciprocable member 14, though any other .suitable form ofdieing-out mechanism may be substituted for that shown. At eachreciprocation of the block 12 relatively to the die 10 a heel lift 16 isdied out from the strip material 8.

The material 8 may be of leather, leatherboard or other sheet material,is wedgeshaped in cross-section, and is adapted for the production ofwedge heel lifts.

The rolls 4 and 6 are arranged to engage opposite sides of the material8 for feeding the latter to the dieing-out mechanism, are mountedrespectively on shafts 18 and 20 arranged in parallel relation and aredriven by suitable mechanism (not shown) from the same source of power.

The means for operating upon the material to produce projectionscomprises, in the present construction, dies or projections 22 extendingfrom the periphery of the feed roll 4 in such position as to co-operatewith a recess, shown as a groove 24 in the periphery of the other feedroll 6. The height of a die 22 is. such that a projection formed by iton a lift increases the thickness or height of the thin portion of thelife at a proje ction substantially to the thickness of the thick edgeof the lift.

The dies 22 are pyramidal and the sheet material, as it passes betweenthe feed rolls, is acted upon in such a way as to provide projections 26having rectangular bases.

It will be observed, from an inspection of Fig. 2, that while theprojections 26 are regularly spaced on the thin portion of thesheet'material 8, in the completed heel lifts the projections arevariously positioned therein. To accomplish this result, the dies 22 arearranged on the roll 4 in such manner that the projections 26 formed bythe dies are so spaced that the distance between any two projections isnot commensurate with the distance between corresponding points inconsecutive heel lifts along the line of projections. That is, theprojections on the lifts are formed in such manner that, when lifts arestacked with their thin edges pointing in the same direction,projections on successive lifts will be 1n. staggered relation. Thisinsures a different position of projections for successive heel lifts.

The spacing of the feed roll dies 22 may be so arranged that lifts ofdifferentsizes may be died out, merely by changing dies 12, withoutsecuring the same positioning of projections in consecutive lifts. Forexample, a lift formed by the die 12 in Fig. 1 may have threeprojections while lifts of the size shown in Fig. 2 may have only twocomplete projections.

In the operation of the machine above de scribed, sheet material 8 ismoved toward the die 10 by means of the feed rolls 4 and (5, theprojection 26 being formed on the material, as it is fed by theco-operating dies 22 and groove 24. The pressor member 12 isreciprocated to effect dieing-out operations to form heel lifts from thematerial as it is moved over the die.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a machine of the class described, a feed roll for feeding sheetmaterial, dies on the feed roll for producing projections along one edgeof the sheet material, and means for cutting heel lifts from said material to include one or more projections on each lift, the spacing ofthe projections being such as to insure that the projections on some ofthe lifts are positioned differently from those on other lifts.

2. In a machine of the class described, means for producing projectionsalong one edge of sheet material, and means for cutting blanks from saidmaterial to include one or more projections on each blank, theconstruction and arrangement of said means being such as to insure thatthe projections on some of the blanks are positioned differently fromthose on other blanks.

3. In a machine of the class described, means for feeding sheetmaterial, means for producing space-d projections on the material, andmeans for cutting blanks from said material in such manner that theprojections on some of the blanks are positioned differently from thoseon other blanks.

4. In a cutting machine, means for forming projections in the thin edgeportion of a strip of material of such a: nature that a section throughthe thin edge portion and through a projectiontherein is of the sameheight as the thick edge of the strip, and means for so cutting blanksfrom said. strip that each blank contains one or more of saidprojections.

5. In a machine of the class described,

means for feeding sheet material, means for forming projections onone'side of said material sin'iultaneously with the feeding pcration,and means for subsequently cutting out blanks from said material in suchmanner that the projections on some blanks are positioned dilierentl yfrom those on other blanks.

6. In a machine of the class described, means for feeding sheet materialof varying thickness in cross-section, and means for forn'iingprojections on a thin portion of said material such that the totalthickness of the material at a projection is increased substantially tothe maximum thickness of the material.

7. In a cutting machine for operating on sheet material having oppositeedges differing in thickness, means for forming projections on the thinedge portion of the material of such a nature that the total thicknessof the thin edge portion at a projection is substantially the same asthe thickness of thick edge of the strip, and means for so cuttingblanks from said strip that each blank contains one or more of saidprojections.

8. In a machine of the class described, cooperating rolls for feeding astrip of material and for forming projections on said material, one ofsaid rolls having projectionforming members on its periphery and theother roll having a peripheral groove to receive said members, and meanscomprising a die for cutting Wedge-shaped heel lifts from g saidmaterial in such manner that the projections are positioned differentlyon successive lifts.

9. In a machine of the class described, a member having dies thereon, asecond memher having a recess therein and arranged for co-operationwith. the first-mentioned member to produce projections 011 material introduced between said members, and means for cutting blanks from thematerial in such mannerihat projections are positioned differently insuccessive blanks.

10. In a machine of the class described, feed rolls for feeding sheetmaterial of irregular cross-section, projections on one of the feedrolls for forming projections on a thin portion of the material, andmeans for cutting blanks from the material such that each blank containsone or more projections, the height of the projections on the feed rollbeing such that the projections formed on a blank increase the height ofthe thin portion of the blank substantially to the maximum thickness ofthe blank.

11. In a machine of the class described, means for providingWedge-shaped heel lifts with projections on their thin edge portions,each projection being of sufiicient height to make the total thicknessof a lift at a projection substantially equal to the maximum thicknessof the lift. a

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification. I 1

FRED ASHWORTI-I.

